And Dick
gathered that Irene herself was inclined to let affairs run their
natural course. He agreed with her, which was to be expected, seeing
that he was four-and twenty, and in love. He cudgeled his brains for
some pretext to discuss rings and the manner of wearing them, but his
wit failed him there. Irene on the deck of her grandfather's yacht
differed in several important particulars from the tremulous girl who
clung to him during that blissful journey of the previous night.
He tried to clear up this vital point with Tagg.
"Did you ever give a young lady an engagement ring?" he asked, after
judiciously leading his chief to discourse on the frailties of the
sex.
"Well," said Tagg reflectively, "it all depen's on the way you take'
it. I once gev' a girl a Mizpah ring, which fancied, when she saw'r it
in a pawnshop window. Next time I met her she tole me she'd swopped it
for a dress improver. The feller she was goin' to marry didn't like the
motter as comin' from me, you see, but the funny thing was she never
said a word about him when she saw'r me buyin' the ring.
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